I'm replaying on hard, which is really the best difficulty to play this game on. On hard your normal beasties are still easy, but you need to do a lot more preparation for your bosses.
This game has a rich lore, and yields more the more you dig.

It depends on what you call 'strategy'.
If you wanted it to be console-like mashing of different buttons, you probably won't be entirely satisfied, since timing your combo's and tumbling forward or backwards etc. (jumping all around the place ) is mainly the only action addict's element.

The other elements of strategy is knowing which sword and which style to use for which enemy, the brewing and use of potions, sword preparations and bombs; and yes, you do have to research your in-game info a bit for that. I don't understand the complaints about this, unless you prefer games that totally spoonfeed you. In that case games like Oblivion or Sacred 2 or Titan's Quest would be more your cup of tea.

I've just become very irritated by a gamer on another forum - a person with experience of shooters and RPG's say the following:

My problem is not my failure to progress or my understanding of what to do. I have leveled up to 8, I think, and I have killed everything I can kill—ghouls, glowing dogs, drowners, bandits, tall plants, even myself a few times.

I understand how it works, what I need to drink, etc. It ain't rocket science, but it is unduly overcomplicated to me. (Yes, I know that's a hallmark of the genre. I'm just sayin')

I don't like pausing the game while I drink a potion, slime my weapon, eat a chicken leg, comb my hair, and shine my boots…then un-pause, as if nothing has happened. To me, that's a cheat.

Then, if you lose the battle, you "learn" that, hey, you don't shine your boots last, you shine them first! And it starts all over again until you finally get it right. *sigh*

And the Aard blast works only sometimes. It is quite effective and I got very good at killing some opponents with one blast and a stab….then it just got a bit boring…until it started not working well on some enemies.

In this game, you don't become more skilled at fighting, you become a better flame clicker and sword slimer, after you pause the game and quaff potions in your recliner and return to the game only when you feel like it.

As I said, I do love the rich environment and all the people and life. It is truly great. I wish I could see the rest of it without all the prissy fighting and potion drinking.

Perhaps if I was a helpless human hero, I could understand better how I needed all the artificial and magical supplements so I could battle each class of enemy.

and

it's fighting I dislike, and in this game everything revolves around preparing for the fight. I mean, how on earth do you even know that Blizzard exists, much less that you need it to defeat the beast? Or, maybe there are multiple ways to kill the beast, but all of them I honestly don't want to be my game.

Well, bless my soul. I thought fighting and strategy was mainly what RPG's and Action RPG's were all about… i don't quite get what this guy was expecting from the game; if the "story-driven" tag made him to expect there would be no combat in the game?

Btw, this guy ditched the game in disgust because he couldn't beat the beast on "easy".

I must admit that i think it was a silly design choice to put such a relatively hard boss so early in the game. That Beast seems to have pissed many gamers off before they even properly got to taste the game in it's fullness.